The institute was established in April 1984 under the INSAT project. The institute has been registered as an independent organization on the 13th December 1994 under the Registration of Societies Act-1860.

The institute was started on small-scale bases at a temporary studio in the polytechnic hostel building at Ahmedabad. Subsequently, the essential resources were obtained, the staff was supplemented, technical training was provided to the staff members and other initial steps were taken. The production of the programmes began from December 1985. The institute moved to its present studio premises subsequently.

All the essential resources for the studio were provided to the institute by the government of India. Entire progress of the institute has been the result of valuable guidance from CIET New Delhi and NCERT New Delhi.

GIET is partly funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi. The government of Gujarat provides for majority of financial support since 2003-04.

The government of Gujarat, Education Department supervises the administration of the institute. The governing Body and the Executive Committee are responsible for supervising the general activities and policies of the institute.